grep
Purpose
Search one or more files for lines that match a regular expression (a search pattern).
Syntax
grep [options] pattern files
Options
- N (where N is a number) displays N lines around the line containing pattern.
-c shows the number of lines that contain the search pattern.-f file reads options from a specified file.-i ignores case.-l displays the filenames that contain pattern.
-n displays a line number next to lines that contain pattern.
-q returns a status code but does not display any output.-v displays the lines that do not contain pattern.
-w matches only whole words.
Description
The grep command searches the specified files for a pattern. The pattern is a regular expression that has its own rules. Typically, you use grep to search for a specific sequence of characters in one or more text files.